The hot dog, also spelled hotdog, is a popular food product eaten all over the world, and known by many different names, such as frankfurter, franks, wieners, dog, and the like. Technically, the hot dog is a frankfurter or wiener served on a bun. Nevertheless, the terms hot dog, hotdog, frankfurter, franks, wieners, and the like, will mean the same thing and may be used interchangeably for the purposes of this application, since there is no consistency in usage or recognized distinctions among the general public. Generically, these terms may be referred to as a sausage as they are all types of sausages made in a similar fashion.
During the past several years gourmet food authorities and barbecue aficionados have identified the improved taste of hot dogs that have been spiral cut, to allow for the flames and heat of cooking to penetrate into the hot dog, as opposed to only touching the outer surface of the hot dog.
One popular process is spiral cutting of the hot dog—cutting the meat so that it remains integrally one unit, but is opened up as a result of the controlled cutting so that the cooking process more effectively cooks not simply the outer meat but also the inner meat that has been exposed. Additionally, the cutting process provides areas into which the user can easily place condiments such as mustard, ketchup, relish, and the like.
Several efforts have been undertaken to provide cooks and end-users with a means to spiral cut hot dogs. Such prior art products and methods have proven to be time consuming and awkward to use.
For example, one method to achieve spiral cuts on a hot dog is to impale a hot dog lengthwise onto a skewer, and then slowly rotate the skewer (and the hot dog) while holding a sharp knife in an angled position against the skewer. This may work to create spiral cuts, but it is time consuming, challenging, and horribly inconsistent. Furthermore, the insertion of the skewer into the end of the hot dog requires carefulness to avoid puncturing a sidewall of the hot dog as the user attempts to guide it completely through the longitudinal axis of the hot dog.
One product requires the lengthwise insertion of the hot dog into a long grooved tube and then the slow rotation of the hot dog (and the grooved tube) while a knife is held in position and travels the spiral groove of the tube during the process. The user has to take care not to insert the knife too deeply into the hot dog so as not to weaken the integrity of the hot dog so much so that it can no longer be handled. In addition, the inability to remove the spiral cut hot dog from the tube without tearing it into pieces, and an easy method for cleaning the inside of the tube, render the product user-unfriendly.
A second design utilizes a cylindrical housing having a sharp blade inside the cylindrical housing projecting radially inwardly. A hot dog is inserted into the cylindrical housing, then rotated to allow the sharp blade to create a spiral cut. This causes the hot dog to be hanging from the housing, typically in mid-air, susceptible to extending like a spring and easily tearing into pieces. In addition, the sharp blades are extremely dangerous, particularly if a child were to get a hold of this device and stick his or her finger into the housing. Also, because the blade is only accessible through the open ends of the cylinder, cleaning the device is difficult.
Another variation uses an injection molded plastic spiral ring that a user would twist over a hot dog. The inner spiral surface of the ring is molded to function as a sufficiently sharp blade to cut into the hot dog meat as the user manually rotates either the hot dog through the cutting unit, or rotates the cutting unit around the hot dog. The system will work as long as the user is careful not to cut into the meat with the leading edge of the ring. Also, this method, by design, requires a tedious number of manual rotations, while the spiral cut hot dog dangles out of the end, and can stretch out and tear off. Reviews of this product at online stores testify to its inconvenience.
Another variation cuts hash marks into the surface of the hot dog using a handle containing a set of blades. The blades are arranged in crisscross fashion. The user places the hot dog on a flat surface, not included with the device, and presses the blades of the handle against the hot dog to create crisscross cuts on one side of the hot dog. If the user wants cuts on the other side of the hot dog, the user has to remove the hot dog wedged inside the blades, rotate the hot dog, then press the handle and blades against the opposite surface of the hot dog. Therefore, in order to create cuts all around the hot dog, the user must take multiple actions. In addition, once the user is finished, cleaning out the residue in between the blades may be difficult due to the design configuration of the blades. Furthermore, the user will need a clean surface upon which the hot dog must be placed in order to use this device. After using the device, the user would have to clean not only the device, but also the surface. Finally, due to the lack of a bottom housing and the cylindrical nature of the hot dog, there may be some inefficiencies in using this device as the hot dog can roll around while the user is trying to create the hash marks.
Other hot dog slicers involve cutting the hot dog into bite-sized pieces rather than spiral cuts. These devices use a slotted base upon which the hot dog is mounted, and sharp blades or wires on an upper housing that when pressed down towards the slotted base allows the sharp blades to pass in between the slots all the way to the bottom to completely cut the hot dog into multiple, individual bite size pieces. In addition, there is no mechanism for stopping the blades from cutting all the way through the hot dog.
Still other hot dog slicers cut the hot dogs into interesting shapes. For example, one product utilized a molded tower-like plastic structure onto which a hot dog was pressed downward so that the meat of the hot dog was cut longitudinally, beginning at one tip and ending approximately halfway up the torso of the hot dog, resulting in a funny “octopus” looking meat treat that had cut “tentacles.” All of the meat at the uncut end of the hot dog remained as original. This type of device defeats the purpose of eating the hot dog as a traditional hot dog on a bun, and is instead used for entertaining children.
Therefore, there is still no device that allows one to create consistent, uniform, spiral cuts on a hot dog in a quick and easy manner with quick clean up. For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a device that can quickly and easily create partial cuts in a food product, such as a spiral or helical cut in a sausage-like food product. The terms spiral and helical are also used interchangeably in this application and intended to mean the same thing.